Posted for "George Braly" <gwbraly@gami.com>:

 Gary,
 
 None of that is any reason for a hard starting engine.
 
 If he wants to learn to start it,  have him fly up to Ada some Saturday
morning, and I will show him.
 
 Regards,  George

"""
 I have a friend that just bought a Mooney with the IO-550 engine.  He has
 considerable trouble starting and Continental says "that's because that
 model engine has no priming valve."  Problem is that the fuel drain is
 directly below the injector, which is pointed straight down.  Most of the
 priming fuel is simply dumped straight out the drain and onto the ramp.  He
 always seems to end up with a large puddle of fuel before he gets it
 started.  Apparently there is an option of a priming valve that squirts fuel
 into the throttle body - I would think that this would be very effective.
 Anyone know if this is a readily-available fix?  Easy to do?  Effective?
"""